Third Annual Lower Kanza Bowl

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■ The Game: West Texas A&M (7-3) vs. Central Missouri (8-3), 1 p.m., Sunday, Hummer Sports Park, Topeka, Kan. The Kanza Bowl is a bowl game for non-playoff teams from the Lone Star Conference and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. Tickets are $15 for reserved and $10 for general admission. WT will be on the east sideline.

■ Chip Shots — This will be the second consecutive postseason meeting between the Buffs and Mules. UCM beat WT, 55-35, in the first round of the 2010 playoffs. UCM led 28-0 with 5:27 left in the first half ... UCM has won three in a row, including a 39-21 win over Washburn, which defeated Abilene Christian, 52-49, in the first round of the playoffs ... UCM’s head coach is Jim Svoboda, a former running backs coach at ENMU under Don Carthel.

■ Coachspeak: “(UCM) is probably the hottest team in the MIAA right now. They are a really solid team,” WT head coach Don Carthel said. “They are running all kinds of offensive formations, just like last year. They have reloaded really fast. I don’t think they’re missing a beat. They are explosive.”

“They have a really good quarterback again and good skill players,” WT defensive coordinator Colby Carthel said.

“It will probably be another shootout again with these guys. We may not match up great with them defensively, but we’ll have a good plan, and hopefully, we’ll be able to get the best of them.”

“We’ve had some young guys that we’ve brought along and we’re playing pretty good football right now,” UCM head coach Jim Svoboda said. “We’ve kind of been similar to West Texas. We stumbled early, and had it not been for that we’d probably both be in the playoffs.

“I’m sure (WT) is motivated after last year, and a Don Carthel team is always going to be prepared.”

■ Keys to the game: Passing, and the ability to stop the pass. UCM QB Tommy Corwin is No. 3 in the nation in passing yards per game (325). WT QB Dustin Vaughan is fifth at 296.9. WT is second in the nation in passing offense (359.4 yards a game). UCM is fifth at 330.45 yards a game. Defensively, neither team ranks in the top 69 in the nation in pass defense ... UCM’s main receiving target is WR Jamar Howard, a transfer from the University of Cincinnati. Howard is seventh in the nation in receiving yards per game (104) ... Both teams rank in the top 20 in the nation in scoring offense.

■ Watch and listen: The game will not be televised. The radio broadcast will be on KGNC (710-AM). For online viewing information, go to www.gobuffsgo.com.